Special Interest Requests

As a community board of Golden, the Parks, Recreation and Museums Advisory Board loves to hear from residents and community groups on projects and ideas to improve our city. It is their duty to represent the opinions and ideas of Golden residents. It is also their duty to work with staff and Golden City Council to balance the competing needs for resources, and to make sure decisions are in-line with broader city plans and goals (e.g., Golden Vision 2030).

In an effort to improve the effectiveness of community input as well as the Board’s response, please follow the below guidelines.

Process for making Requests

1. Preparing to present to the Board

Review context on Parks, Recreation and Museums Advisory Board to make sure we are the best group for your request.

Reach out to a Board member to discuss your request and get guidance on the process.

Determine if your request is fitting for an official agenda item (longer discussion, wanting more a response/decision) vs. public comment (wanting to share an opinion, less preparation involved).

Provide a summary of the planned item and any “read ahead” details that will allow staff to include the information in the agenda packet for Board members allowing Board members to be able to review the information before the meeting.

2. Presenting to the Board

If it is a Public Comment item, show up at the beginning of a regularly scheduled Board meeting.

If it is an official agenda item, work with staff or a Board member to get on the agenda, attend meeting, and present idea.

3. Next steps after presenting

The Board will discuss the item, determine best next steps, inform you, and update the tracker.

Know Before You Present

What Golden Parks and Recreation Department Covers

The Golden Parks and Recreation Department oversees recreation, parks, forestry, cemetery, facilities, golf and museums in Golden city limits including the Cemetery, Community Center, Splash Aquatic Park, Clear Creek RV Park, Clear Creek White Water Park, Fossil Trace Golf Club, and Golden History Museums. We also work in cooperation with Jefferson County Open Space, Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife and other agencies to align with their vision, goals and policies. Before presenting to the Board, it is helpful to know if we oversee the specific resources you have in mind. If you have questions, please reach out to any Board or staff member to clarify.

Citywide CIP Process

To ensure a comprehensive and long term view of city development and maintenance, Golden uses a Capital Improvement Projects process to make budget and resource decisions. Taken individually, it is difficult to assess which items are most impactful and to prioritize accordingly. Instead, projects are grouped into common areas throughout the system allowing for complementary projects to be grouped and ranked, maximizing impact for users.

These are then presented to city staff who then make long-term budget decisions. While this is extremely helpful for the City, it provides extra challenges when groups come to the Board with funding requests, so it is helpful and important to understand how funding decisions are made.

How the Parks, Recreation and Museums Advisory Board Makes Decisions

It is important to remember that this is an advisory board and while they can make recommendations, they do not have ultimate control on most decisions. The Board serves the community in a variety of roles including being a thought partner, an advocate, a liaison to make connections to other groups, and a representative of Golden. Parks, Recreation, and Museums Advisory Board members use their experiences and backgrounds to work together to make decisions based on best judgement while balancing several factors.

CIP factors: who would benefit from a project, how many would benefit, how much would it cost, what resources are required, maintenance required, lifespan of project

Based on positive recommendations from the Board, staff then responds and moves requests forward one of two ways:

The Department can address requests that have minimal budget or land use impacts. These would include requests to modify existing programs/amenities or facilities. An example of this could be a request for an additional trash receptacle in a specific location, or to include gym time at the Community Center for pickle ball.

The second way is designed for requests that have potential changes to City Ordinances or adopted City policies, increases to City services, greater impacts to budget or land use.

After Board review and recommendation, these requests are forwarded by staff for City Council consideration. They usually will go before the City Council in a study session or regularly scheduled meeting. Often the request is turned back to the Board by the Council for follow up. This typically requires significant public vetting and process through public meetings, surveys, etc. Should the request be supported through the public process Council may then make a decision on whether or not to move the request forward and direct staff to implement the request.